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State board fines two more for election petition forgeries

ATLANTA — The State Elections Board closed the file Wednesday with two fines on the case of multiple voter petitions forged in an attempt to get an independent candidate on the 2008 Chatham County Commission ballot.

The board accepted consent orders agreed to by political operative Edwin Morris and a young woman he recruited and duped into signing the transmittal document for the forged petitions, Alexia Williams. It dismissed allegations against former Commissioner John McMasters for lack of evidence.

Morris, incapacitated by multiple strokes, agreed to a public reprimand and a $10,000 civil penalty if he is involved in another campaign over the next 10 years. However, state officials say he can no longer speak and is now dependent on his parents.

Williams, who was a 20-year-old with no political experience when Morris recruited her to earn a little extra money, agreed to a $300 penalty, three times what she was paid to circulate petitions. An investigator said the petitions she circulated were legitimate.

County elections officials asked the state to investigate when it discovered the 50 suspicious petitions. In May, the State Elections Board held a rare field hearing in Savannah while its members were in town for a convention.

At that hearing, witnesses acknowledged that McMasters recruited Morris and that the petitions were brought to the home of McMasters’ mother-in-law, who notarized them. He then submitted them to the county election office.

But none of the witnesses directly implicated him with knowingly submitting forged petitions, according to Assistant Attorney General Ann Brumbaugh.

“It’s common sense,” she said. “You have to wonder how could he not know. Unfortunately, ‘how could he not know’ is not evidence you can take to court.”

Two members of the state board wanted to issue McMasters a letter telling him to no longer be involved with forged petitions, but they dropped it when member Rusty Simpson suggested such a letter would be improper.

“We can’t presume or take action against him unless we have evidence,” he said.

County Commissioner Helen Stone attended the meeting and asked the board to support legislation Sen. Buddy Carter, R-Pooler, agreed to sponsor a bitll that would require anyone signing an election petition to present proof of identity like they would to vote.

Stone was the target of the petition drive. The petitions were to place David Osborne’s name on the ballot during her re-election bid.

“I don’t want this to happen to anybody else,” she said.

County Commissioner David Gellatly, a former Savannah police chief, sat by Stone’s side and told the board he was resigned to the results of the probe.

“I don’t think justice was served, but it was totally investigated,” he said.

McMasters didn’t attend Wednesday’s meeting in Atlanta, but when contacted afterward he expressed relief and renewed his claims of innocence.

“The right outcome has been reached at tremendous expense to the Georgia taxpayers to facilitate a political vendetta by two commissioners (Stone and Gellalty) who don’t like me,” he said.